FATHER OF FATALLY STABBED DODGERS FAN CALLS FOR WITNESSES: ‘Losing a Child is a Heartache no Parent Should Have to Endure’

SAN FRANCISCO — The father of a Los Angeles Dodgers fan stabbed to death after a San Francisco Giants game last week asked Sunday for witnesses who may have captured the fight on mobile devices to come forward and help both families find closure.

Robert Preece, his voice quavering at times, spoke in front of AT&T Park’s iconic Willie Mays statue before the Giants played the San Diego Padres. He was flanked by family members who handed out fliers to fans streaming into the stadium.

The fight Wednesday night ended with the death of his 24-year-old son, Jonathan Denver.

“Losing a child is a heartache no parent should have to endure,” Preece said in his plea for witnesses to the fight, which resulted in the arrest of Michael Montgomery, 21. Montgomery was released from jail on Friday after the district attorney said police have not yet collected enough evidence to warrant criminal charges. Montgomery’s father has told other media outlets that his son says Denver hit him over the head with a chair and he stabbed him in self-defense.

Preece said Sunday that he saw bystanders with mobile devices and believes they were recording the incident.

“The Montgomery family is likely suffering as well,” Preece said. “I am making a plea to the public asking that anyone who may have witnessed the incident to come forth so that both families can have some measure of closure. I believe that someone may have videotaped the incident so we can discover the truth.”

Denver’s mother, Diana Denver, said in a prepared statement that she was angered by Montgomery’s release and what she called “the negligence of our justice system.”

The victim’s aunt, Jill Haro Preece read the mother’s statement after Diana Denver said she was too emotional to address the dozen of cameras and reporters assembled in front of Mays’ statue.

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon said police had not spoken with any independent witnesses who may have witnessed the fight, which is what prompted Preece and his family to make their public plea.